Salt Lake City, April 10th, 2013

So I had a couple days in Portland before heading over to Salt Lake City. One main thing done….go to Voodoo Donuts!!!! It’s kind of world reknown and OMG, the variety of donuts, unbelievable. I tried a few and liked most(not a big fan of the maple bacon so tossed most of that an one other out but since they said it was one they were known for, I had to try it LOL) and had to get one of their trademarks….voodoo doll hahahaha.(yes, that’s a little pretzel stick to represent a stake through the heart :lol:)  I don’t feel too bad eating them though (and thank goodness for a fridge in the room so I could space out my sugar high :wink:) as I spent Tuesday hiking 6+ miles around a bunch of waterfalls (that were in full flow…gorgeous!) but after that, it was a flight to SLC. I’ve gotta say, though I had a case of deja vu when OMD came back in the fall of 2011, it wasn’t as strange feeling to return to some of those cities as it was today returning to SLC. That seems SO long ago now, not just 2 years. Hard to explain but….and to make it even more reminiscent, I stayed in the same hotel and the band played the same venue.

I arrived to the venue early as I didn’t know what to expect. In 2011, people were lining up early…except I found most were fans hoping to get a ticket as the gig was sold out.  This time,  I got in a ‘regular’ line and waited and when the doors opened, I headed on in. Nabbed a spot up front and then heard my name called…Roger Erickson was there with his wife, forumer Steve was there also and shortly after, a sweet couple I had befriended the first time I was in SLC (and saw briefly in Vegas) Eleah and her husband Rob. Yay! 😀 I also started chatting to the two girls on my right…twin sisters Elhandria and  Florencia. They are fellow DM fans too LOL and I was excited as they weren’t able to see OMD the first time…weren’t 21 yet. Wow, I’m feeling old now 😳 😆 I had to laugh though as, since I was a melting, sweaty mess after VC and Portland, I decided to change my choice of clothes for tonight….a sleeveless/shoulderless top….Elhandria asked me “aren’t you going to be cold?” I told her I bounce and dance a lot so, no, this is what I need and gotta say, SO glad I wore it. 😆

So I was determined to record the last song of Diamond Rings due to it being, well, infectiously catching. Been singing it a lot since Seattle and even had Mark bopping around with me in the car as we drove to Portland. It’s the equivalent to Oh Lands “We Turn It Up”..you hear it and it sticks in your head. 😆 Before though, we were treated to a brand new song…cool! The gang by me all had fun for those 40 minutes.

Well, the time between bands seemed to go faster than normal this time and before I knew it, OMD were taking the stage. I know I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again…Metroland is a great opener….great build up and a gotta clap and bop beat. 😀  The clapping started early and was quite strong, possibly the best so far.  When Dresden came on, I snagged video but when it was over, Mr.M. looked at Mr. H. and said that there was something wrong with his bass…it was broken because he was playing the wrong note and that’s why it didn’t sound right (will have to watch the vid because to my ears nothing stood out) so his bass is broken.  Mr. H. laughed and said “it’s the bass huh?” and Mr. M. said “yes, it’s not the operator, my bass is broken.” Well, those who know me know I’m SO not one to yell things out to the guys but all of a sudden I started yelling “bring out Old Faithful”, though I don’t have a loud voice so they didn’t hear me which is probably a good thing. 😳 but I couldn’t help it. 😆

During the middle part of Radio Waves, I’m always mouthing the “bum bum buuuum bum bum” part and had to laugh as tonight I saw Mr. H. doing it too, hahahaha, sweet! And when Mr. M. came over to us for his bass playing, Steve yelled out “Andyyyyyy”.  Forgot to mention, he was yelling out the guys names from the start, had forgoten about that from last time but it still makes me laugh.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to have enough room to bounce when HoM came on but, yup, I did and some of the gang joined in along with fans further over to my left so great to see, especially since Mr. M. told us he wasn’t seeing enough movement yet. 😆

Lots of cheers and screams when Mr. H. came out to do FLaD and IYL was definitely the best sing along thus far…quite loud indeed! 😀  I was also noticing a lot of smiles coming from Mr. H.#2, always a good thing to see!  I was hoping for a new clue on the 7 Hooper references of Night Cafe but nope, just got 6 and 7 but much to the amusement of Roger.  Then it was the back to back of JoA/MoA and when I recorded it in Seattle, I noticed that they had red lights flashing to match Mr. H.#2s hard drum beats so I thought it was just that night but tonight I saw it again. It really adds to it, makes it more dramatic or something (not that it needs anything else as that song is amazing in so many ways already but….)

Our System has been my favorite new live song but after listening to the album in full a couple days ago, it’s still in my top 3 (haven’t gotten down to the nitty gritty to say which is #1 yet LOL) so that speaks a lot for it and I’m so glad it’s being done.  When SiL came on, it was back to “mindless dancing” which occured and Mr. M. stepped onto the railing, much to the thrill of the fans around him! 😀  But then SMS…I had forgotten to pass the word around about the congregation so I was a soloist tonight…ah well.  But I need to expand on this song…..first, Mr. M. went over to Mr. C. and got kind of behind him. Mr. C. looked over and smiled and Mr. M. stayed there saying “hello Martin”, hahahaha.  It was a hand shake to Mr. H. next which we’ve seen before but then when Mr. M. was back to the front and center singing to the crowd, I saw that all of a sudden some dude was on the stage dancing! 😯  Prior to the gig, I was joking with the OMD gang about, when in 2011, the girl who had gotten on stage, ran to Mr. M. to give him a hug, and gleefully danced around the stage all during Enola Gay and said “I wonder if we’ll have anyone doing that again”….um….yeah….we DID! He didn’t run to Mr. M. though, just wiggled his butt a bit and had his arms up like “hey, look at me”….until Merv politely shooed him off. Seriously, what is it with SLC? 🙄 😆

When SotSS began, so did some issues with a security guard by me and a woman in the middle front row.  Mr. M. had sung to her and slapped her hand earlier but she was now getting in trouble with the guard who went over and told her to stop doing something, I wasn’t sure.  Mr. M. looked down and made a little face and shrugged, not sure what was up but the guard kept calling her out so Mr. M. brushed his shoulder as if to say “it’s OK, let her be.”  The guard walked away and back to my right but started to call on his walkie talkie and before long, a female guard came over and SHE went to the woman to tell her something. Mr. M. was watching and seemed to be getting a bit upset so when the female guard was done, I didn’t see the girl anymore.  By this time, it was near the musical intrulude but instead of Mr. M. saying “Mr. Cooooper”, he stood there for a second confused and then came over to the guard,  tapped his shoulder and mouthed “what’s the problem here?” I don’t know what the guard said to him and I couldn’t tell by Mr. M.s reaction if he was in agreement or more like “oook 🙄 so I just shrugged and went back to dancing but the girl was gone after that. (however, after the gig I asked Roger what had happened as the guard had actually said something to him, Eleah and Rob at points too. I wondered what was up and Roger said the girl had shoved her way into the front and “was throwing elbows” bomping him in the nose a few times. I had seen it happen once but I thought maybe it was just an accidental fluke…apparently not. Urgh, that’s my pet peeve! If you want front row, then get to the venue early, don’t push up front and ruin it for others! :?)

Well, Enola Gay went well (early in the show I had heard a fan yell out for it so I’m sure he was in all his glory now!) and then it was over…but not really as we all know. Steve started yelling OMD…OMD right away and we all joined it to give off a strong chant for the guys to come back out to.  Mr. H. thanked us for being such a great crowd to play to and Mr. M. said “we had a fantastic gig last time we were here and tonight has been great too, thank you.”  WotMW was Rogers wifes moment…Mr. M. came over and sang her the line “as time goes by reality……” and when he got done about the shadows on the wall, he made a big frowny face before continuing to sing to her a bit more.  When he left, she was laughing and hugging Eleah, too funny! 😆

Secret sounded extra bassy tonight (that’s not a bad thing) and then when Electricity started, Roger joined in for the, er, timed bouncing before the song took off. When it was over, the guys looked quite pleased with how things went and as Mr. H.came front and center to stand near Mr. M., Mr. M. put his arm around him and tipped his head to touch Mr. H.s…it was so sweet! 😀 Leaving, Mr. H.#2 got in front of Mr. H. and Mr. H. patted his back with both hands…looked like they had as good a time as we all did!

So, highlight of the night….had to be Enola Gay with Eleah.  I knew from the first time we saw OMD in SLC that she has a loud scream so I mentioned that to her earlier here. She was like “OMG, you remember that?” 😯 but it was a good thing. Well, she was a couple people away but I didn’t hear it all night (unless I was just to far but I don’t think so) so when Enola Gay was about to start, we looked at each other and I said to her “I haven’t heard your scream yet…come on Eleah, let it out, you know you want to” so she grabbed my hand, screamed and we started bouncing up and down together, just having a great time, squeezing hands and letting it out. It was great fun!  I had wondered if I’d see them again and glad I did. 😀

So…that’s it for a bit now. I fly out to LA to meet my friend Greg as we’re doing Coachella (and funny enough, our flights land within minutes of each other! 😯 At least he’s not traveling as far as we did for South Africa :lol:). OMD play on Sunday and I’ll be in downtown LA for most of Monday before that show so I’ll apologize in advance if it takes a few days to get the final blogs up but they’ll pop up eventually, I promise. 😉  And to all my friends and the band in San Fran tomorrow…have a great time! 😀